Tripoli, April 15th, 2011. In the era of super fast means of transport, stealth aircraft, satellites, computers and major human rights projects, refugees fleeing from persecution are dying at sea, ignored by the rest of the world.

When the vessel of a group of sub-Saharan migrants is in trouble due to an engine fault - or the boat is taking in water - the ships of the "civilized" world sail past them, helicopters fly over their heads, but nobody comes to their aid. This is the world we live in. These are our times.

This is the testimony of Abu Kurk, an Ethiopian and survivor of the shipwreck in the waters off Libya last March in which 63 Eritreans and Ethiopians lost their lives. Our thanks go to Emiliano Bos, the journalist who interviewed the survivor, and Father Mussie Zerai.